Digital golf assistant

ABSTRACT

A method includes receiving, from a user via an electronic user interface, an indication of a golf course to be played, providing a listing of challenges to the user, receiving score data from the user in a sequential, hole-by-hole manner, and populating an electronic scorecard with score data from a selected one of the listing of challenges together with the received score data in a sequential, hole-by-hole manner. The listing of challenges include at least one of a previously recorded round of golf played at the golf course, and a simulated opponent.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/356,956, filed 30 Jun. 2016, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a multi-function digital golfassistant that may be used to facilitate scorekeeping, analyze playstatistics, and provide suggestions/tips for game improvement.

BACKGROUND

Golf applications for portable computing devices, such as smart phones,have historically focused on providing a user/golfer with electronicscorecard functionality and/or providing real-time range-findingcapabilities. Typical electronic scorecards operate only with localinput through a single interface, and are entirely populated by theuser. Likewise, real-time range finding capabilities operate using adevice's GPS receiver and tend to display a distance between the user'slocation and one or more virtual pins or way-points on the hole orcourse.

Current devices have not kept pace with existing trends in social media,nor have they been designed to capitalize on any benefits that may beobtained from the popularity of internet connected devices such as smartphones and smart watches. Existing devices tend to be stand-alone unitsthat are operable only on a local, personal level.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system that provides an enhanced golfexperience to a plurality of users.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a server that is in communication witha network.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a portable computing device that is incommunication with a network.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating a method of using adigital system for providing an enhanced golf experience.

FIG. 5 is a schematic system diagram of a multi-factor golf coursesearching tool.

FIG. 6 is a schematic display, provided via a personal computing device,to configure a round and select one or more opponents.

FIG. 7 is a schematic display, provided via a personal computing device,to configure a round and select one or more challenges.

FIG. 8 is a schematic display of a hole layout, provided via a personalcomputing device.

FIG. 9 is a schematic display, provided via a personal computing device,for visualizing the relative performance of a user across one or moreability metrics.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used toidentify like or identical components in the various views, FIG. 1schematically illustrates a system 10 that may be used to provide a user12 with an enhanced golf experience before, during, and after a round.In particular, the system 10 may provide electronic scorecardfunctionality, may provide in round tips and yardages, may aggregate andsummarize data relating to a golfer's ability, may provide customizedpro tips for improving the golfers game, and may fully integrate withsocial media and/or other local golfers to share accomplishments and/orchallenge community records.

The system 10 includes a centralized server 14 that is in at leastperiodic, bidirectional data communication with one or more portablecomputing devices 16 (i.e., “client devices 16”) via a network 18 suchas the Internet. FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a system 10 thatincludes three portable computing devices 16 a, 16 b, 16 c, with eachdevice being operated by a different respective user 12 a, 12 b, 12 c.It should be appreciated, however, that this is purely illustrative, andthe system 10 may actually operate with a near unbounded number ofdevices 16 and users 12.

As generally illustrated in FIG. 2, the server 14 may include one ormore processors 20 that are configured to execute specialized software22 to aggregate user data and facilitate a desirable user experience viathe client devices 16. More specifically, the software 22 run by theserver 14 may be operative to construct and/or maintain one or moredatabases, stored within non-volatile memory 24, that contain useraccount data and preferences 26, golf course data 28, and user play data30. The server 14 may include a network interface 32, and a means foradministrative access and management such as a terminal, or directremote login (e.g., via the network interface 32).

In one configuration, the portable computing (“client”) device 16 may bea “smart phone”-style cellular telephone (“smart phone”), or a devicewith similar mobile data processing and display functionality. Asgenerally illustrated in FIG. 3, each client device 16 may include aprocessor 40 in communication with non-volatile memory 42, a userinterface 44, a GPS receiver 46, and a wireless radio 48 that enablestwo-way communication between the device 16 and the network 18 (e.g. theinternet or a cellular telephone network).

In one configuration, the user interface 44 may be, for example, acapacitive touch screen display that includes both a visual display 50and a touch-based input digitizer 52. The visual display 50 may be aliquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode display (LED), anorganic light emitting diode display (OLED) and/or any similar styledisplay/monitor that can receive a visual data stream from the processor40 and display it in a visual manner to the user 12.

In both the server 14 and the client device 16, each processor 20, 40may be embodied as one or more distinct data processing devices, eachhaving one or more microcontrollers or central processing units (CPU),read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM),electrically-erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), ahigh-speed clock, input/output (I/O) circuitry, and/or any othercircuitry that may be required to perform the functions describedherein.

Additionally, the non-volatile memory 24, 42 may include one or moremagnetic or solid-state hard drives, solid-state flash memory, or anyother similar form of long-term, non-volatile memory that may be used tostore program data, user data, course data, software applicationalgorithms, and the like.

The present system 10 may merge aspects of social media with the game ofgolf in a manner that enables a user to challenge and compete withfriends, share course tips and accomplishments, and gain anintrospective view of one's own game by comparing his/her ownstatistical performance with aggregated performance data from golfersacross the network 18 with a similar ability level.

Referring to FIG. 2, to facilitate the social media aspects of thepresent system 10, the server 14 is configured to maintain account data26 identifying the existence and preferences of each of the plurality ofusers 12. More specifically, the account data 26 identifies each user 12by an account record 53, which details the user's preferences 54, andidentifies other users 56 that are connected with that user 12 to definea social network 58.

In addition to account data 26, the server 14 may maintain golf coursedata 28 that includes a listing of all courses nationwide, with eachcourse record providing, for example, a geocoded location for thecourse, one or more course attributes (cost, slope, rating, etc),scorecard data (yardages, par, handicap, hole tips), and geocodedhole-by-hole data/locations. Finally, the server may maintain user playdata 30 that includes stored play/round data that is indexed to bothuser account data 26 and to golf course data 28, as well as being datestamped.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a method that may be performed in wholeor in part by the system 10, or in conjunction with the system 14, atthe direction of a user 12. While the method generally illustratesseveral aspects of the system 10, it should be understood that eachaspect may have its own standalone utility, independent of the otherdescribed aspects.

The method generally begins at 62, when a user 12 interfaces with theportable computing device 16 to search for and/or select a golf coursethat he or she intends to play. As shown schematically in FIG. 5, thesearching functionality may employ a multifactor approach to provide theuser 12 with a prioritized listing of courses (i.e., the “result set82”) that may be displayed via the display 50, and that attempt toanticipate a desired course selection and/or suggest courses that may bedesirable to the user 12.

The course searching may generally be performed at the server 14 via asearch engine 84 that is in digital communication with one or more ofthe user account data and preferences 26, the golf course data 28, theuser play data 30, and the client device 16 (i.e., via the network 18).Prior to the user 12 entering any search terms or keywords 86, thesearch engine 84 may generate an initial result set 82 according to oneor more of the following: past courses played 90; player preferences 92(e.g., cost, availability, favorites); location of golf courses 94;current user location 96 (as determined by the GPS receiver 46); and anyuser-provided ranking preferences/biasing 98 (e.g., instructions to sortcourses by distance).

In one example of a pre-search, the search engine 84 may use pastcourses played 90 to weight courses that the user has repeatedly played(and/or courses with similar attributes to those repeatedly played)higher than those which have been either infrequently played or aremarkedly different from courses that are typically played. Likewise, inan example, current location 96 and player preferences 92, such asdesired cost range, may be used together with the geolocated golf coursedata 94 to further weight the result set 82 that is passed to the user12. By using this multi-factored/weighted search approach, the user 12may initially be presented with a listing of courses that have thehighest potential relevance (e.g., by location and/or preference) atthat moment and for the user's current location.

Following any initial presentation of weighted search results 82, theuser 12 may enter one or more keywords 86 that may be used in afuzzy-logic searching algorithm to adjust the weighting of coursesreturned by the search engine 84 via the result set 82. Using thisapproach, for example, following entry of the keyword 86, the searchengine 84 may give a stronger preference to course names or locationsmatching or resembling the entered keyword 86. Following the entry ofone or more keywords 86, the search engine 84 may update the searchresults 82 provided to the client device 16.

Referring again to FIG. 4, after a user 12 searches for, and selects agolf course that he or she wishes to play at 62, the course data recordrelating to the selected course may be transmitted to the user's clientdevice 16. The user 12 may then be prompted to configure the round andselect one or more opponents at 64. Configuring the round may includeselecting the number of holes to be played 100 and teeposition/difficulty 102, such as shown in FIG. 6. When selecting the oneor more opponents, the user 12 may have the option of locally enteringthe names and data for one or more real-time playing partners (e.g., viaan “add” button, such as shown at 104), linking with one or morenetworked opponents or playing partners 56 via the server 14, orselecting one or more virtual opponents or previously recorded rounds.

In an embodiment where the user 12 desires to link with one or morenetworked opponents via the server 14 (i.e., after the round isinitialized), the user 12 may interface with the server 14 to locate andselect a digital account or profile of a linked user 56 within thecurrent user's social network 58 or local community. Selecting theaccount or profile, the user 12 may cause a digital message/invitationto be emailed or pushed to a device 16 associated with the linked user56. The invitation may include a link or virtual button that, whenclicked, confirms the linked user's intention to join the round and autopopulates electronic scorecard info within client devices 16 belongingto one or both of the user 12 and linked opponent 56. In a scenariowhere a desired playing partner is not part of a user's social network58, an option to join the social network 58 may be provided prior toestablishing a networked round. Once a networked opponent has confirmed,the server 14 may maintain a record of the group composition tofacilitate score sharing among the players, enable a virtualleaderboard, and/or to coordinate one or more games.

In addition to playing against one or more live opponents (i.e. eitherlocally entered or linked through a network interface), the system 10may present the user 12 with the ability to play against one or morepreselected virtual opponents or previously recorded rounds (i.e.,“challenges” 106), such as generally illustrated in FIG. 7. The system10 may construct and present a list 108 of potential challenges 106 thatare deemed to be the most relevant to the user 12 based on the user'sability, chosen course, and/or social network. Potential challenges 106may include the best score achieved on the course by the user 12,members of the user's social networks, and/or all users of the system 10for a specified period of time (e.g., within 3 days, 1 month, 1 year, orall-time).

Referring again to FIG. 4, once the round is initialized and allcompetitors are entered into the scorecard (i.e., either locally or viathe network), the user 12 may proceed to a hole-by-hole digitalinterface at 66 and begin golfing. In this interface, the system 10 maydisplay real-time distances 110 between the user's location 112 and oneor more virtual targets 114 or locations 116 on the course, such asshown in FIG. 8. In one configuration, the virtual target 114 isoverlaid on to a geocoded satellite image 118 of a given hole that isdownloaded into the client device 16. The virtual target 114 may bedynamically repositionable by the user 12 such as by touching thedisplay device 50/digitizer 52 with a finger, and dragging the target114 across the screen. As the target 114 is moved, the distance 110between the users location 112 and the target 114, as well as thedistance between the target 114 and a location 116 on the course (e.g.the green/hole), may be continuously recomputed, and displayed.

In addition to providing real-time yardage information, the system 10may also enable a user 12 to provide/receive crowd-sourced hole tips ona hole-by-hole basis. Hole tips may provide useful commentary on how tomost strategically play the hole in a message board format, and mayinclude tips on identifying targets to aim for, lies that provide easierapproach shots to the green, ideal distances, or other usefulinformation that the golfing community/social network 58 sees fit toshare.

As a user approaches a tee box, or manually indexes to the next hole,the hole tips may either automatically display, or may display if acommentary menu 120 is selected via the display 50/digitizer 52. In oneconfiguration, available tips may be separated between pro tips, andcommunity tips. The system 10 may weight each received tip according todifferent classifiers, such as the ability level of the commentsubmitter, whether or not the submitter is a registered teachingprofessional, the recency of the tip, and the number of people who foundthe tip useful (e.g., through views and/or upvotes). Comments may beentered and aggregated at the server 14 for every hole in the database.Upon request by the user 12, a listing of hole tips may then bedisplayed, where higher weighted (i.e., more reputable and/or recenttips are closer to the top. Additionally, the server 14 may include afunctionality for a user with administrative rights to modify or deleteone or more of the tips if they are deemed inappropriate or misleading.

Referring again to FIG. 4, following each hole, or at the completion ofa round, the user 12 may input his or her scores on a hole-by-hole basisat 68. In general, the data entry may include total strokes, number ofputts, driving accuracy, and/or penalty strokes taken. At the completionof the round, the system 10 may used this provided data entry to computeone or more ability metrics that may include the number of fairways hit,greens in regulation, scrambling percentage, number of putts perhold/round, % one puts, etc. These statistics may be displayed for theuser 12 in the moment, and/or passed to the server 14 where they may beanalyzed/aggregated at 70 as user play data 30.

In one configuration, when aggregating the data at 70, the server 14 mayalso compute one or more statistical distributions and/or rankings foreach of the determined ability metrics. In one embodiment, rather thangenerating the statistical distributions across golfers of all abilitylevels, the distributions may, instead, be separately computed forgolfers of different average scores or handicaps. Said another way, thedistributions may be “binned” based on ability. Once the distributionsare generated, a user's individual play data 30 may be compared with therelevant distributions to determine where each ability metric fallsrelative to others with the same or similar average or handicap. Thesecomparisons may then be visualized via the display 50 at 72.

FIG. 9 illustrates a manner of visualizing/displaying the relativeperformance of a user 12 compared with others of similar ability. Inparticular, FIG. 9 illustrates a bubble plot 130 that has fourquadrants, each displaying a different one of four ability metrics:driving accuracy 132, greens in regulation 134, scrambling percentage136, and puts per round 138. In each quadrant, each bubble 140represents a completed round of golf, with the bubbles of more recentlyplayed rounds being larger and/or closer to a 45 degree diagonal 142than more historical rounds. The radial positioning 144 of therespective bubbles (relative to an origin 146) illustrate where thecomputed metric falls within the network-wide statistical distributionfor golfers having similar averages 148 or handicaps. In general, thedotted circle 150 represents the mean, and bubbles within the circle 150represent user preferences for that metric that are better than average.

With continued reference to FIG. 9, the bubble plot 130 provides a quickmanner of visualizing a user's consistency across different aspects ofhis/her game by examining the tightness of the bubble groupings along aradial dimension/spread. Likewise, by looking at the bubble plot 130 asa whole, the user 12 can quickly identify specific aspects of his/hergame that need practice and/or further improvement.

Referring again to FIG. 4, once a golfer's consistency and relativeability metrics are understood, the system 10 may be configured toprovide the user 12 with tailored game improvement tips that targetdeficient areas as may be generally illustrated via the bubble plot 130(at 74). These game improvement tips may include workouts, drills and/orpointers that may be performed at home on the driving range, or on thecourse.

In one embodiment, the determination of the one or more game improvementtips may be based off a comparison between the golfer's ability metricsand the statistical distributions of golfers within a desired average orhandicap range. More specifically, the system 10 may provide feedback onwhich aspects of the user's game may need improvement to achieve adesired score range. This may operate by comparing the user's currentmetrics against averages from the desired score band. The system mayidentify the top one or two lowest or worst performing metrics relativeto the new average, and can then provide targeted training tips,exercises, or drills to help improve the golfer's performance. In thismanner, the training tips may highlight only those aspects that wouldbest aid in reducing the user's score.

In a further extension of the present design, instead of simply relyingon raw scores, the radial positioning 144 of each bubble may benormalized according to the difficulty (i.e., slope and rating) of thecourse and the tee location that was played to give rise to the bubble.In this manner, comparatively poor performances that are caused byplaying a more difficult course may be adjusted to provide a more directcomparison with the user's performance on comparatively less challengingcourses.

Referring again to FIG. 7, in addition to selecting one or morechallenges 106 that consist of previously recorded rounds (i.e. roundsthat were actually played by others), the system 10 may also enable auser 12 to compete against one or more purely virtual opponents as“challenges.” In one embodiment, a virtual opponent may be a simulationthat is derived from the statistical distributions used to construct thebubble plots. In this manner, the user 12 may initially specify theaverage or handicap of a virtual golfer that he or she wishes tochallenge (alternatively, the system 10 may pre-select a virtual golferwith a similar or marginally better average/handicap). The system 10 maythen simulate the performance of that virtual golfer on a hole-by-holebasis for the chosen course. This simulation may use similar probabilitydistributions to those used for constructing the bubble plots 130 forgenerating hole-by-hole scores according to a probabilistic model.Examples of ability metrics that may be used in the model include formetrics such as fairways hit, scrambling percentage, greens inregulation, total puts, and/or scores relative to par for the given holedifficulty, length, and/or par. As with any of the challenges 106, thescores of the virtual playing partner would be populated into anelectronic scorecard of the user 12 after the completion of each hole.

In addition to maintaining the actual course layout data, the server 14may further maintain one or more virtual leaderboards or rankings on acourse-by-course basis (e.g., via the golf course data 28). Thesevirtual leaderboards may be indexed to the user account data 26 toprovide identities of those who hold top spots, and may be indexed touser play data 30 to reference the scores and date when the round wasplayed. In this manner, the leaderboards may be capable of beingfiltered by recency of play (e.g., past week, month, year, all-time),and a user's actual round performance may be ranked either raw terms, oras a percentile against performances within the given date filter.Additionally, following the completion of any round, the server 14examine existing leaderboards and/or recompute all available challengesso that the listing may be quickly accessed at the start of a new round.

Referring back to the social media aspect of the present system 10,following the completion of a challenge or accomplishment of aparticular achievement (e.g., streak of birdies, bogey or better, par orbetter, hit all fairways, play on a number of different courses orrounds, etc), the user 12 may push a notification out to his/her socialnetwork 58, where the notification may be viewed, for example, on anactive news feed. Additionally, a user 12 may enter or tag one or morepieces of equipment, which may also be shared with the network 58.

In a further embodiment, rather than a user 12 having to manually enterscore data, the system 10 may be configured to automatically track andlog a user's performance. To accomplish this, the system 10 may attemptto record the position and occurrence of each shot using, for example,the GPS receiver 46 and some means of a user input, such as thedigitizer 52 or accelerometer associated with either the client device16 or a linked smart-watch. More specifically, when the user 12addresses his or her ball to take a stroke, the user 12 may provide somemeans of input to indicate to the client device 16 that a shot is aboutto commence. This input may include, for example, tapping a screen ofthe smart phone or smart watch or shaking the smart phone/smart watch ina particular manner or for a particular duration, which may be detectedby a motion tracking accelerometer.

Once the client device 16 receives the indication from the user 12 thata shot is about to commence, it may poll and log the GPS location dataat that moment. The client device 16 may then analyze the GPS data todetermine the relative location of the user 12, and may use theindication of an imminent stroke to increment the user's score. In oneembodiment, the client device 16 may directly compare the GPS locationwith one or more geocoded course boundaries (e.g., edge of the fairwayor boarder of the green), which may be downloaded from the server coursedata 28, to better understand the user's lie and/or which hole to assignthe incremented stroke to. In an embodiment where the course data 28does not contain specific boundary data, the GPS position may beinitially located within a downloaded image of the hole, such as shownin FIG. 8. The client device 16 may then use image analysis techniquesto determine and extract boundaries between fairway and rough, orbetween the green, rough, and/or fairway. Once the boundaries areextracted from the image, the user's location may be further analyzed todetermine the lie and/or which hole to assign the incremented stroke to.

In a further embodiment, the client device 16 and/or smart watch mayprovide the user 12 with an ability to indicate which club is being usedprior to marking the shot at address. Upon marking the next shot, theclient device 16 may determine a distance and/or accuracy metric for theclub used in the previous shot (i.e., by determining the distancebetween the two recorded GPS locations and/or by comparing the secondGPS location with a line drawn down the center of the fairway). Thesystem 10 may aggregate the determined shot statistics on a club-by-clubbasis and compute one or more statistical distributions for distanceand/or accuracy (i.e., “club statistics”). These club statistics maythen be provided to the user 12 to illustrate certain hittingtendencies, or may be used to provide customized pro-tips (e.g., drillsor techniques to reduce shot distributions/scatter), or to suggestproduct improvements (i.e., to gap-fit existing clubs, suggest moreaccommodating products, or custom fit new clubs).

In general, the present system 10 leverages the existence of a broadnetwork of users to provide a given user with an enhanced golfexperience and the ability to make customized game improvement tipsbased on comparisons between the user's personal ability metrics andstatistical distributions that are constructed across all users of asimilar average or handicap.

“A,” “an,” “the,” “at least one,” and “one or more” are usedinterchangeably to indicate that at least one of the item is present; aplurality of such items may be present unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,”and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stateditems, but do not preclude the presence of other items. As used in thisspecification, the term “or” includes any and all combinations of one ormore of the listed items and can properly be read as “and/or” even ifnot explicitly stated as such. When the terms first, second, third, etc.are used to differentiate various items from each other, thesedesignations are merely for convenience and do not limit the items.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method executed by a portable computingdevice, comprising: receiving, from a user via an electronic userinterface of the portable computing device, an indication of a golfcourse to be played; providing a listing of opponents to the user, thelisting of opponents comprising at least one of: a previously recordedround of golf played at the golf course; and a simulated opponent;receiving an indication from the user of a selected opponent from theprovided listing of opponents; receiving score data from the user in asequential, hole-by-hole manner for a plurality of golf holes; andpopulating an electronic scorecard with score data from the selectedopponent together with the received score data in a sequential,hole-by-hole manner such that the score data from the selected opponentfor a hole of the plurality of holes is populated into the electronicscorecard immediately following entry of the received user's score datainto the electronic scorecard.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thepreviously recorded round of golf is associated with a user account thatis within a common social network as a user account associated with theuser.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the previously recorded round ofgolf is the user's lowest recorded score at the golf course.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein score data from the simulated opponent isgenerated using a probabilistic model that is based on one or morestatistical distributions derived from a plurality of users that eachhave a respective scoring average or handicap that is within apredetermined tolerance of a scoring average or handicap of the user. 5.The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a statisticaldistribution of one or more ability metrics from a plurality of usersthat each have a respective scoring average or handicap that is within apredetermined tolerance of a scoring average or handicap of the user;wherein the one or more ability metrics include at least one of a numberor percentage of fairways hit per round, a number or percentage ofgreens in regulation per round, a scrambling percentage, a number ofputts per hole or per round, and a percentage of one puts per round;determining an ability metric from the score data received from theuser; generating a visual image that illustrates the determined abilitymetric within the statistical distribution; and displaying the visualimage via the electronic user interface.
 6. The method of claim 5,further comprising aggregating the ability metric from the user across aplurality of rounds of golf; generating a visual image that illustratesthe aggregated ability metric within the statistical distribution; anddisplaying the visual image of the aggregated ability metric within thestatistical distribution via the electronic user interface.
 7. Themethod of claim 5, wherein the visual image is a bubble plot displayinga plurality of bubbles each corresponding to the ability metric for adifferent round of golf; wherein each bubble has a radial positionrelative to an origin, and wherein each bubble has a different angularposition relative to a ray extending from the origin; wherein the radialposition relative to the origin is indicative of the ability metricwithin the statistical distribution; and wherein the angular positionrelative to the ray is indicative of the recency of the round of golfcorresponding to the bubble.
 8. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising providing training advice to the user via the electronic userinterface that corresponds to an ability metric that is below an averageof the statistical distribution.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising transmitting the score data and an indication of the user'sidentity to a remote server for storage.
 10. The method of claim 1,receiving hole-specific commentary from a remotely connected server,wherein the hole-specific commentary is provided by one or more otherusers and saved to the server; and displaying the hole-specificcommentary via the electronic user interface in a sequential,hole-by-hole manner.
 11. A method executed by at least one of a serverand a portable computing device, comprising: maintaining user play datafrom a plurality of users within a database, the user play dataincluding a plurality of records, each record containing score data, anidentification of a user, an indication of a course from which the scoredata was generated, and an ability metric; determining an average scoreor handicap for each of the plurality of users according to the scoredata stored within the database; identifying a subset of records thathave an average score or handicap within a predetermined tolerance of atarget average score or target handicap; computing a statisticaldistribution for the ability metric from the subset of records;receiving an electronic scorecard from a local user, wherein the localuser has an average score or personal handicap from a plurality ofrounds that is equal to the target average score or target handicap;computing the ability metric for the local user from the electronicscorecard; generating and displaying an image that represents theability metric for the local user within the computed statisticaldistribution from the subset of records.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the image is a bubble plot containing a graphical bubble placedwithin a polar coordinate space; and wherein a radial distance from anorigin is representative of the ranking of the user's ability metricwithin the computed statistical distribution.
 13. The method of claim11, further comprising providing training advice related to the abilitymetric if the user's ability metric is below average within thestatistical distribution.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein theability metric includes at least one of a number or percentage offairways hit per round, a number or percentage of greens in regulationper round, a scrambling percentage, a number of putts per hole or perround, and a percentage of one puts per round.
 15. The method of claim11, further comprising normalizing the score data according to a slopeand rating of a golf course from which the data was acquired prior tocomputing the statistical distribution.